The Family Room {a.k.a. The Playground}

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A house is for living. Some day, your house will be clean and tidy and you will be wondering whether your son will be calling you, taking time from his busy life, to say hello. Enjoy the chaos, all too soon children grow up. I used to get exasperated when my children used all the furniture to make tents and clubhouses. Now, I miss those days. I am happy that they have gone on to live their lives as adults, but enjoy these times. They will be sweet memories.

Agreed. My kids have manners, they respect us and our home and belongings, but when 10 year old boys at a slumber party have 10 minutes of craziness, I just smile and remember how fleeting it all is! I’d rather they remember those 10 minutes of fun than me yelling at them to get off my precious slipcovers. :-)

Glorious! Enjoy these moments! You are giving them a HUGE gift and wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. What a blessing for them to one day look back and remember the love, laughter and fun they had in that happy room!LaurieatTurnerFarm recently posted..My Free Farmtable

Boy, they are having a ball!! Have to admit, I’d cringe too. We were fortunate to have a HUGE bonus room above our garage for ours to romp in. No worries there!!SimplyLKJ recently posted..23 Days Until the Invasion!

So I am giggling because FINALLY there is a blog post that makes me go – eh, yeah kids, perhaps not so cute and adorable – just loud and messy! Normally blog posts about kids all just make me wanna have 10 of em and snuggle babies! :)

But you are right … family rooms are for living. And kids above the age of 3 and under the age of 18 are for jumping on furniture! At least I am not going into into this whole motherhood thing naive!Jess recently posted..Setting a Harvest Table

Those rattan chairs were bought second hand (I believe) by my parents when I was in high school…25 years ago? They were in my sister’s house for 8 years with two kids plus many small friends who overturned them to make tents regularly in her basement. They are the sturdiest chairs ever! Not to worry, they’ve survived worse!

Wow! LOL We have to watch ours with doing that…our seven year old son is known for falling and getting injured…ah well…looks like your little buddies are having a ball! Thanks for sharing real life in real rooms, Melissa! ;D

Oh yes, THAT is what living rooms are for. Lots and lots of fun.
I love when my LR is all neat and put together but honestly the only time it looks that way is when my little fort builder is fast asleep.

I don’t know… my kids have had a pretty darned great childhood without trashing our living room and jumping on our furniture with their friends. Whatever works for you, I guess. We just use the floor for that sort of thing.

I have only being reading you for a little while but thank you, thank you, thank you, for this post, this is exactly how our great room get used. On many ocassions the cushions are off the couch more than they are on, especially in our snowy winter climate.Tammy Garbarino recently posted..Bye-Bye Summer

Awesome! This post is perfect timing and a reminder for me to stay calm this weekend. I have 8 girls (9yr olds) coming over for a sleepover B-Day party glame style!!! They live here too right ;-) Thanks for keeping it real as always!

I recognize the wince…I’m wearing one, too. No family room here for such games so the living room fills in. My grandson just whacked the stuffing out of my budding Christmas cactus calling it the “jungle.” Ackkkk…Vee recently posted..Red Flannel Nightgown

Fun! I grew up with three brothers so I by the time I had my own kids I was used to the noise and chaos. We used to play a game where the floor was “hot lava”. This meant you had to jump from chair to couch to table, never touching the carpet!Carolyn recently posted..Master Bedroom Wall – Take Two

Bless you is all’s I can say…lol I don’t know if I could have remained quiet or even thought to take a picture…but then again my boys were young when blogland didn’t exist…lol Oh my achin’ furniture is all’s I can think of. Have a great day, fondly, RobertaRoberta recently posted..How to Purge your Stuff in 21-Days!

Keepin it real!!!!! Gotta keep things in perspective. No, this probably wouldn’t have been most of our first pick of activities for our boys but sometimes you just gotta let em go for it. I so love that you don’t live that don’t touch kind of life. Life is messy, live it, love it, (make em) clean it up. Warms my heart!!!

Well, my boys are grown, so oh how I would love to see that sight again!
And come to think of it, if I remember correctly, my mother used to call our family room the Rumpus room, or something like that. Maybe they were on to something!

Your pics made me think, “oh goodness, they’ll still being this when they are that big?”. Mine are 2 & 5, so this is my life currently, but I guess I had delusions that things would calm down. Thanks for the reality check & the chuckle. More reason to learn to let it go.

I can’t like this enough. You have captured the essence and the tension of motherhood and interior design. Kudos to you for letting the love win. This is exactly what our living room will be like as well – two boys, age 3 and 4. Sigh.

Thanks for keeping it real. I appreciate this as I look at what used to be my family room and is now a pet store, a grocery store and a birthday party all rolled into one.Kimberlee J. recently posted..Ds Awareness Answers Part Two

Got to love those boys!
You are right Melissa~~~time goes by to fast.
My familyroom is always in a bit of a mess…pillows everywhere. Furniture re-postioned for movies or video games.

I would love to slip cover my sofa in familyroom light colored but for now it’s dark upholstery..my family, no matter how many time I ask them not to~~~they takes PB&J’s in familyroom! Oh well that’s real living in my home.

BTW
I did just get a vintage/white french sofa for my livingroom~~~early birthday present!! So excitied!!
and it is far away from any Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches! lol

Lol. My living room/family room looks like that on occassion too. It totally makes me cringe. But you’re right…they’ll be all grown up before we know it and while I’m sure we’ll enjoy a tidy house, I bet we’ll miss the kids immensely!
Shannonhttp://www.akadesign.caShannon recently posted..Any Guesses

I miss the SEVEN little boys that used to be in the neighborhood, two of which were mine. Noisy, messy, but oh so creative. Sleep overs were a challenge in our tiny house. Now they are all grown up, some are dads. Hubby and I are baby-boomer-empty-nesters and have as much quiet and order as anyone could need…

BTW, I did keep my bathroom off limits after finding too much evidence on the wallpaper that these boys had terrible aim, haha!